Regret

"There was once a love which I did not learn to cherish,
it was only when I lost it that I felt extreme regret.
There is no worse experience than such.

If Heaven gave me another chance,
I would only like to say three words:
I LOVE YOU.

If there is a time limit to this love,
I hope it would be ten thousand years..."

Quote from Journey To The West (Stephen Chow movie)



This was the FIFTH time I caught Stephen Chow's adaptation of Journey To The West on TV. I consider it to be one of my favourites, not only because of the typical Stephen humour, but because of the underlying meaning in this movie. For those who never caught it before, I will briefly summarize. I believe all would recognise the original Journey To The West as a story about a Tang Dynasty monk, Tripika, who sought the holy scriptures and journeyed to India, also known as Tian Chu in the past. However, in Stephen Chow's adaptation, he fuses a romantic component in it by having the human form of Sun Wukong fall in love with an immortal, Princess Zixia (or should I say it's the other way around?) Anyway, the primary reason why I watched this movie (which I believe no one would, for the fifth time as a matter of fact) was because I wanted to hear this quote above.

Sun Wukong said the above quote twice in the movie. The first time to entice Princess Zixia to steal something for him. The second time (when he really meant it) was when Zixia sacrificed herself for Sun Wukong. Strangely, there would always be this peculiar feeling welling out from my heart whenever I hear this quote. Alone, I attempted to ponder upon the true meaning of the quote.

If I had known that would happen, I wouldn't had done so.

Is it really true that humans only learn to cherish something when they lost it?

If the above statement was true, I would only stop to marvel about the number of times we must lose something to really understand the true nature of holding dear to things important to us. People tend to take for granted several things in their life. Take for example the recent tsunami disaster, where close to a quarter of a million died and countless more lost their homes in an instant. In that multitude of victims, there were definetely be some who, before the tsunami, wished that they stayed in bigger houses or that their parents never came into existence. However, it pains my heart to think that they are now regretting their words.

It is human to make mistakes. No one can be, or will be, perfect - even with the wonders of genetic engineering. I too had made mistakes, both big and small, that had not only affected myself but had also hurt people around me. I know that nothing I do can change the past, but deep inside my heart, I hope that I will become a better person from all these experiences. It is only my sincere hope that through reading this, whoever you are, take some time to reflect upon your life (even five minutes will do) and cherish people around you by showing your concern and never take for granted anything or anyone. Don't wait! You never know what's going to happen the next second!